As a result of the concerted efforts of Gita Inbar, Rachel
Karni, Yehuda Lerner, Shimshon Bahat, Benyamin Hofshi, and Mickey Amsel
(all of them Israeli descendents of Shumsk), Shumsk resident Albert
Shafir, and people who offered financial
support for the project, a permanent fence was erected in December 2007
around the Jewish cemetery in Shumsk. The Jewish cemetery was
once at quite a
distance from the
center
of town. However, the newer part of Shumsk, which is now its
busiest part, has grown up quite close to the cemetery. The cemetery
is surrounded by industrial and residential development, and many
graves succumbed to this development a number of years ago. The
fence surrounding the cemetery will help prevent
further destruction. For information on the project, click
here. Below are recent images. And click here
for individual photos of all of the existing Shumsk gravestones, with
English translation of the inscriptions.

The images below are of how the Jewish cemetery in
Shumsk appeared
when
I visited in 1999, before the establishment of the fence. Most of
the
headstones were no longer present, and about a third of the graves were
covered over by thicket and trees.

Underneath
the greenery lie many more graves. The horizontal stones do often
have information identifying the buried, although degradation over
time has made many illegible. Ironically, the trees and overgrowth
have actually offered protection to some of the stones from the
elements.

This is the best preserved section of
the
cemetery, with most
of
the headstones standing.

This is a more typical section, with
most
of the headstones
missing.

Above are examples of well-preserved tombstones (photographs by
Mel
Werbach).

This was a
heartwarming find: the tomb
of
my
great-grandfather's
sister Reyzel, grandmother to Lee White and Shirley Levy of the
United States, and to Shoshana Reisin of Israel. It reads that Reyzel
bat Shmuel Dov died on Lag B'Omer 5695, which was May 18, 1935.